Bangkok Celebrates Chinese New Year

Bangkok Kicks off Chinese New Year in Lumpini Park

Bangkok recently kicked off the Chinese New Year’s celebrations with a colourful festival held in Lumpini Park which featured a wide range of the best that Chinese culture has to offer in the realms of music, dance, art, magic, handicrafts and food.

The festival, which was enthusiastically attended by thousands of Thai and Chinese visitors along with tourists from countries all around the world, was declared to be a stunning success by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT).

Traditional dancers perform at the Bangkok Chinese New Year’s Festival.

Bangkok enjoys breezy and relatively cool weather at this time of year. This contributed to making the festival a comfortable, day-long experience for visitors to witness the many Chinese performances staged to the delight of capacity audiences. Spending a few hours exploring the numerous stalls offering Chinese art and handicraft exhibits, was extremely popular as well.

Of course, the countless number of food stalls that sold mouth-watering Chinese as well as Thai delicacies and beverages did a roaring business and sent everyone home with full stomachs and smiles on their faces.

Cultural Significance

The cultural significance of the festival was highlighted by the attendance of high-ranking officials from both the Kingdom of Thailand and The People’s Republic of China.

Representatives from The Kingdom of Thailand included H.E. General Tanasak Patimapragorn, Deputy Prime Minister; H.E. Mrs. Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul, Minister of Tourism and Sports; Mr. Yuthasak Supasorn, Governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand and TAT executives.

High-ranking officials oversaw the Chinese New Year celebrations in Bangkok.

Representing the government of the People’s Republic of China was H.E. Mr. Ning Fukui, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People’s Republic of China to the Kingdom of Thailand, and Mr. Xie Jinying, Director-General of the Bureau for External Cultural Relations, Ministry of Culture, the People’s Republic of China.

A Long History of Thai-Chinese Co-operation

A lot of visitors to Thailand don’t realize the amount of influence that Chinese citizens have played in the cultural evolution of Thailand. The Chinese people were one of the first foreign cultures to put down roots in Thailand and many Thais have Chinese ancestors who married Thais as a part of their family history, further merging their cultures into something totally unique.

H.E. General Tanasak Patimapragorn and H.E. Mr. Ning Fukui discuss the close bonds between Thailand and China.

These Chinese immigrants have played a large part in the development in Thai trading, commerce and even the development of the famous Thai cuisine. Bangkok’s Chinese Lunar New Year Festival is a celebration of the rich cultural bonds that were established generations ago and have endured to become an important aspect of Thailand’s history.